Extra fluffy and delicious, birthday pancakes combine typical pancake ingredients, a bit of cake mix, and colorful sprinkles!
They’re easy to whip up for a birthday celebration, or a Saturday morning. Kids and kids-at-heart all love cake-mix pancakes!
Easy Breakfast Treat
These pancakes are so versatile. Choose a cake mix, choose the mix-ins, change it up every time!
Make a batch and store leftovers in the fridge to reheat the next day. These pancakes are great for a quick breakfast, lunch, or dinner!
Cake mix pancakes can even be frozen. Just place a piece of waxed paper between each pancake before putting them in a zippered bag with the date written on it.
Ingredients & Variations
These homemade cake mix pancakes are easy to make and use simple ingredients!
DRY Basic pantry staples like flour and baking powder are used in this recipe.
WET Vegetable oil, milk, vanilla, and eggs are all added to create this easy pancake mix.
CAKE MIX I use a white cake mix but any cake mix works; chocolate, red velvet, funfetti, or even lemon flavor will work great.
SPRINKLES Choose a good quality sprinkle so the colors don’t run and only stir them in at the end (Sweetapolita are my favorite). The smaller nonpareils (the ones that are tiny) tend to run.
How to Make Pancakes with Cake Mix
Pancakes are super easy and make for a great breakfast or dessert any night of the week!
- Toss sprinkles in a bit of flour. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients (per recipe below).
- Mix wet ingredients in a bowl and add to flour mixture until just blended.
- Fold in sprinkles or other add-ins and pour about ¼ cup of batter in hot skillet.
Serve hot and top with favorite cake toppings!
Toppings and Add-Ons
Set out small bowls and let everyone create their own birthday masterpiece!
- Sprinkles, whipped cream and cherries
- Sliced bananas, strawberries, fresh fruit
- Ice cream or whipped cream, for pancake desserts! (Ice cream cake pancakes, anyone?)
Tips
- For fluffy pancakes, just barely mix the batter. Small lumps are okay and will disperse as they are cooking, allowing for more air to be cooked into the pancake!
- Gently fold in the sprinkles or other goodies just before cooking so they are cooked into the pancake and the colors don’t run.
- Use good quality sprinkles to preserve the color.
- Pan release works better than butter or oil for greasing the skillet or griddle.
More Breakfast Treats
- French Toast Roll Ups
- Fluffy Homemade Waffle Recipe
- Easy Banana Pancakes
- Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Classic Banana Bread
- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
Did you love these Cake Mix Pancakes? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Birthday Cake Pancakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup white cake mix
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons colored jimmies
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 ¼ cups milk (you may need a little more)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Instructions
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Preheat skillet or griddle to medium-high. Place sprinkles in a bowl and add a tablespoon of flour and toss to coat. Set aside.
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Combine flour, baking powder and cake mix in a bowl.
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In a separate bowl, mix milk, oil, vanilla and eggs. Add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Batter should still be slightly lumpy. If it's extremely thick, add a little extra milk to get the right consistency.
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Fold in sprinkles (don't stir too much so the colors don't run).
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Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto lightly greased skillet or griddle. Once edges are cooked, flip pancakes and cook another minute.
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Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
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This recipe was adapted from Betty Crocker… their version uses Bisquick but I wanted to make it without.
Hi there,
Can you use buttermilk instead of regular milk?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Stef. I do have these buttermilk pancakes. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Cant wait to make these
I’m from Russia and I don’t understand, what a cake mix is…what is it? Maybe it’s just flour, or…? Can you help me, pls? I want to cook it for my sister’s birthday.
Hi Alina! Cake mix can be found in most grocery stores in North America but maybe not where you are. It’s a pre-made mixture of flour, sugar, and other ingredients! I hope this helps :)
Hi there SP,
Do you have a homemade substitute for the cake mix?
Thanks!
Hey Stephanie, You could use just the dry ingredients in your favorite cake recipe, like this yellow cake, and add sprinkles to turn them into festive birthday pancakes!